wfn.org | [ENS] Vision of scientist-priest Teilhard de Chardin to guide April

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@mail.epicom.org>]

Monday, March 14, 2005

Vision of scientist-priest Teilhard de Chardin to guide April 8-9
environmental talks

Sessions planned for United Nations, Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the
Divine; Kenyan Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai among speakers

ENS 031405-1

[ENS, New York] -- In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death
of
scientist-priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the City University of New
York's Continuing Education and Public Programs Graduate Center will
host
three free programs April 8-9, including two presentations at the
Episcopal
Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Chardin, who died in New York City on April 10 (Easter Day), 1955, was a
leader among 20th-century clerics who sought to integrate scientific
research with a religious vocation. At an early point in his career,
Chardin, a paleontologist and Jesuit priest, made it his personal
mission to
reconstruct the most basic Christian doctrines from the perspectives of
science and, at the same time, to reconstruct science from the
perspectives
of faith.

On April 8, a presentation titled "The Spirit of the Earth: Global
Spirituality and a Sustainable Future" will take place at the United
Nations
from 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Wangari
Maathai,
the Kenyan environmentalist well known among other efforts for
widespread
tree-planting initiatives, will be among the speakers. Others include
Steven
Rockefeller, chair, Earth Charter Drafting Committee; Adnan Amin,
director
of the U.N. Environmental Program; Brian Swimme, co-author of "Universe
Story;" and Mary Evelyn Tucker, vice president, American Teilhard
Association.

A panel discussion on "The Influence of Teilhard's Thought on Scientific
Research" will be held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on April
9,
10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Panelist include Ludvico Galleni, professor of
biology,
University of Pisa; Mark McMenamin, professor of geology, Mount Holyoke
College; Kathleen Duffy, professor of physics, Chestnut Hill College;
Harold
Morowitz, Krasnow Institute for Advance Study at George Mason University
and
James Skehan, SJ, professor of geology, Boston College.

"A Celebration of the Epic of Evolution: Affirming the Vision of
Teilhard,"
the final program, will also be held at the Cathedral on April 9 from
2-4
p.m. Speakers will include Swimme, Ursula King, emeritus professor of
religion, Bristol University; John Grim, professor of religion, Bucknell
University and president of the American Teilhard Association; Helen
Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking;" and Miriam Therese MacGillis,
director of Genesis Farm. Musical selections will be performed by the
Paul
Winter Consort.

The commemoration is also expected to include a pilgrimage to Teilhard
de
Chardin's grave site elsewhere in New York City.

Further information and reservations may be obtained by phone,
212.817.8215,
or electronic mail, continuinged@gc.cuny.edu.

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